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Blast from the Past: the iPhone's ancestor
Apparently Apple's been thinking about this whole phone thing for a long time. Here, courtesy of Fudder, you can see an Apple smartphone design concept from the middle ages (wait, I mean 1983). For you youngsters in the audience that strange thing on the screen is called a "check" and used to be a way for people to exchange money. Seriously, for 1983 that thing looks pretty cool.[via Digg]
Prototype Nintendo / PlayStation on display
A brief history lesson: Before creating industry uber-brand, the PlayStation, Sony was working with Nintendo (of Wii fame) to create a SNES CD add-on. But that wasn't it! They were also working on a separate, Sony branded console that would play CDs and SNES cartridges. That console, like a mythical beast roaming the expanses of the digital world, had never been spotted ... until now. Like a lost Picasso finding its way to a humble garage sale, this early PlayStation pops up at game-rave.com (if you couldn't tell) and encourages us to think back at what could have been. Y'know, it could have been the PlayStation with the motion-sensitive controller. Oh, wait ...There's no way to verify the veracity of game-rave's claim that "it's real," but they promise updates "very, very soon." Like now? How about now? Are there updates ... now? [Via Nintendo Wii Fanboy]
Civilization III mod teaches Canadian history
Ten years in the making, a million-dollar project funded by Telefilm Canada and supported by Canada's National History Society has finally come to fruition. HistoriCanada: The New World is a Civilization III mod designed to help students learn about Canadian history. Gamers take control of the English, French, or one of over half a dozen native peoples and play through the years of 1525 and 1762, shaping the country as the game plays out in Civ III-style.The chair of the Queen's University Centre for the Study of Democracy says Canadian history is sometimes portrayed as "dull as dishwater", but when experienced through Civ III players can see the "complex interaction of economic, religious, social and military choices" that have shaped the country's past. The mod is available for download on the HistoriCanada website (you must have Civ III and the Conquests expansion) and will be packaged with copies of Civ III and donated to over 100,000 Canadian high school students.Edutainment can go horribly wrong, but sprinkling a little history lesson in with Civilization is a great idea in our book. Just one question: why Civ III and not Civ IV?[Thanks, Bryon S.]
Inside story of the first iMac
For the Mac history buffs out there, a Memorial Day treat:Thomas Hormby at The Mac Observer has a fascinating look at the the story behind the original iMac. Of course, the iMac is considered by many the computer that saved Apple, and was Steve Jobs' first great triumph after his return. Personally, I did not realize that the "internet Macintosh" was originally intended to be a Network Computer (remember those?) as promoted by then Apple board member Larry Ellison. Above you can see the video (pre-black turtleneck and jeans!) of the original iMac introduction, then go ahead and check out Hormby's story.[via Digg]
Forty years of video games: how are we doing?
It's a point that comes up a lot in arguments about the cultural import of video games. "The medium is still young," defenders argue. "Games may not have reached total mainstream acceptance yet, but just give it some more time. You'll see."We hate to break it to you guys, but video games aren't that young anymore. This month marks 40 years since Ralph Baer's Brown Box effectively created the idea of interactive screen-based games (and the industry is even older if you count Willy Higinbotham's 1958 experiment Tennis for Two).This important milestone got us wondering: how do the first 40 years of gaming compare to the first 40 years of other forms of mass entertainment? Continue reading for a quick historical comparison:
Photo history of TVs: #28 is straight out of the Jetsons
Ya ever think about how much your family's TV has seen over the years. Wired's TV history slide show might rustle up some pleasant memoirs of laying stomach down in front of the wood-encased TV on the carpet acting as your dads "clicker." (# 36 and pictured above) Or, maybe the older crowd will recall when the AT&T satellite was launched enabling transatlantic broadcasting. (# 30) We wish we could remember what looks like one of the first HTIB systems but something tells us it cost a pretty penny when it was released. (# 28) If your childhood was anything like ours though, some of these TVs were mainstays at every family affair and it's nice to look back sometimes.
Long-distance TV broadcasts hit 80 year anniversary
We've already seen broadcast radio cross the century mark, and while 80-year anniversaries aren't exactly the most memorable under normal circumstances, television is certainly not in a normal predicament. Four score ago, the Indianapolis Star reported that "television, a scientific dream ever since the telephone was perfected, has at last been realized," as an image made its way some 200 miles from Washington, D.C. to Whippany, New Jersey, and then 22 miles by wireless to New York City. 80 years later, OTA broadcasts as we know them are at a turning point, as ATSC signals look to take over for the existing analog flavor, and companies are already chomping at the bit to get in while the getting is good. Furthermore, television as a whole has hastily garnered a newfangled medium in just the past few years, as the internet connected generation can now look to their browser to catch up on recent programming. The not-so-subtle revolutions that have occurred in the world of TV have happened at a breakneck pace, and considering all the luxuries we're starting to enjoy, we doubt things will slow down anytime soon. So here's to 80 years of keeping us pudgy, obliterating our motivation to socialize, and giving mega-corps a means to an end, and if you're interested in just how much has changed in just eight decades of the 'tube, be sure and hit the read link for a comprehensive report.
Hitl ... errr History Channel game coming to PSP
History Channel is turning their sights once again to video games--and this time, the subject is Rome. Black Bean Games (Evolution GT, SBK-07) is handling development duties of The History Channel: Great Battles of Rome. Players will play the role of a Roman legionnaire and will fight against barbarian hordes, as well as rival countries. It is promised to have more than just combat, though. It will have an empire-growing strategy element as well. The developers haven't confirmed if the corner of your PSP's screen will have a giant "H" in it during gameplay, though. [Via PSXextreme] [Update: Clarified the writing for readability.]
DS Daily: How did you get started?
Once upon a time when we were smaller than we are now, there was a movie theater nearby that had an arcade, and it was there that we got started gaming. Many an afternoon (and a fortune in quarters) disappeared in those dark corners. Later, when we got our original NES, that same joy moved to the living room, and it was a family affair. Some of that continues even to this day, as the mother unit keeps trying to jack the Wii since she can't find her own. But we didn't always game. There were lapses in our interest and years when we did other things. Only now, in adulthood, has a true love of gaming flowered, a love that was born (for this blogger) with the N64 and the Playstation. But how has it been for you? Where (and how) did you get started? What's influenced your taste and habits as a gamer?
RFID Audiobar brings enjoyment to audio art
While today might not seem all that out of the ordinary, it's not everyday that we find not just one, but two cases of folks using RFID technology to enhance our lives and bring excitement to otherwise mundane exhibits. Following up on ET's playful garb, Mogens Jacobsen has crafted the Audiobar (Hørbar), which is a "physical bar-like social environment that enable visitors to interact with sounds via RFID tagged bottles." His was recently commissioned by The Museum for Contemporary Art Roskild to come up with a new and varied way to present the museum's "vast archive of sound-art," and is now garnering worldwide attention for his success. Each tagged RFID bottle responds to the reader installed in the table, and the housed computer channels the appropriate audio clips to correspond with the bottle movements. While it still might take a bit more pizazz to get a gang of second graders to listen to anything on a museum field trip, this is most certainly a step in the right direction, and can be checked out now if you're stopping through Denmark.[Via Textually]
DirecTV to carry 100 National HD Channels in 2007
We sure hope this means that the HD programming race is heating up and it's not just vapor ware. After all 2006 was a slow year for new HD channels. DirecTV has been boasting for some time about the number of HD channels they would have and today they have announced specific channels. The interesting part is that almost none only a few of the channels they announced today are currently offering HD programming. The channels announced today include. A&E National Geographic Bravo NFL Network Cartoon Network SciFi Channel CNN Speed Food Network TBS FX The History Channel HGTV The Weather Channel MTV USA Network Currently DirecTV only carries 9 national HD channels and even with this list and as many premium channels we can think of there would still only be 30 HD channels. Throw in 20 or so for regional sports channels and is still only 50% of their claim. As much as we want to believe them, we have our reservations.
Breakfast Topic: Has WoW broken Blizzard?
Lots of players have cried, at one point or another, that Blizzard, the company, has somehow irrevocably broken WoW, the game, and that they'll never come back, ever. But this morning, I'd like to take a look at the opposite question: has WoW, the game, broken Blizzard, the company?Look at Blizzard before World of Warcraft: They were undoubtedly the king of RTS, with not one but two classic, timeless series under their belts (StarCraft, which is still considered the RTS standard by some, and Warcraft, the third of which is still just as popular). They made Diablo and Diablo 2, two of the biggest, if not the biggest, PC RPGs ever. They came from console roots, and were thinking about reentering them with a 3rd person stealther called StarCraft: Ghost that had earned tons of hype already. And then along comes this game called World of Warcraft. I worked at a game store when word first dropped about this game, and we were confused-- a 3D MMORPG set in the Warcraft universe? How do you do that? But Blizzard had a reputation for spit, polish, and quality by the spades-- while they didn't make many games, the few they made were the best of the best.Cut to now: World of Warcraft is Blizzard's one and only game for the forseeable future. StarCraft: Ghost has been canceled, along with any thoughts Blizzard ever had of reentering the console field. They're now longer a small, powerful games boutique-- now they're the 800 lb gorilla of the gaming world, making deals to put their game in stores, on television, and in movies. And while their game does still have a heck of a lot of spit and polish (they do still have seven million players), they're not so much in the business of cultivating multiple powerful franchises, but instead have gotten very much into the business of hotfixes, bugfixes, and patching.So has WoW broken Blizzard? At this point, it's very hard to imagine Blizzard having or making the resources to do another game (they're tied up as it is with the expansion). WoW has made a lot of players very happy, but it's also tarnished Blizzard's reputation with their playerbase in a way that Diablo and StarCraft never did. And while there's no question that Blizzard is still respected in the game industry, there is a question as to why: is it because they're reeling in the cash, or is it because of the quality of their product? Back in the days of StarCraft and Diablo, the latter was the case. Is it still?
La historia de Steve Jobs en espaol
Behold. Via Charged.tv and Google Video, we present to you this silly history of the Steve Jobs success story. This video, which comes from Fox factory and Universidad de Palermo in Buenos Aires, Argentina, is actually much more amusing if you don't speak any Spanish. Thanks to Ruben Santiago.
My first iPod didn't have a halo back then
In light of the iPod's 5th birthday, I figured it would be fun to join Scott in some reminiscing about the early days of my first little white music player. I remember seeing them when the 10 and 20GB models completed the 1st/2nd gen lineup, and I knew that thing would rock my world. I had already been trying out other MP3 players at the time, and I hated all of them. The last one I remember before scraping together cash for a 5GB iPod was a Rio (from Creative, I think?), and I hated that thing too. Getting music onto the device was a chore, and flash memory cards were mind-numbingly expensive (I think it took SD cards). The Rio's interface was an exercise in walking barefoot on broken glass, and the moment I saw the iPod I knew someone had finally done it right. After tearing the couch apart for that last penny to cover tax (and after a month of saving some cash by eating nothing but Ramen noodles), I rode my bike as fast as I could down to the University bookstore I was part-timing it at (I wasn't in school at the time), because I could get the discount there which made all the difference. The funny thing is: when I brought that 1st gen iPod home, I wasn't plugging it into a Mac - I had a Windows XP box (funny: 5 years ago, same ol' WinXP). While the original iPods were *officially* just made for a Mac (or so most of us remember), I picked up one of the first Mac+PC versions, so I was using Musicmatch and - I hope you're sitting down for this - an unofficial plugin for Windows Media Player. This admittedly blasphemous configuration worked decently, though it certainly didn't hold much of a candle to the integration of the dynamic iTunes+iPod duo that Apple finally brought to Windows. Fortunately, this iPod helped convince me to hop onto the Mac OS X train before that happened.I'd like to consider myself one of the early benefactors of the 'iPod halo effect.' While I was using crappy software on Windows to manage my first iPod, I started (finally) getting curious about the company that made such an impressive little device. After all, I was in the middle of a design undergrad (I had to take time off to get in-state tuition in CO, and btw: that's a PITA), and the next semester a fellow classmate sat me down for a crash course in all things Apple and Mac OS X (and I was finally more open to learning about them). When the forces of the iPod halo effect and Mac OS X united, I once again embarked on a Ramen diet, this time of epic proportions. My destination? A RevA 12-inch PowerBook - my first Mac - for which many pennies were sacrificed.So this blogger has that original 5GB iPod and a classmate or two to thank for making the switch to greener OS pastures. Of course, I can also bring incredible amounts of music along in my pocket now too, which isn't half bad either. It's been a fun musical roller-coaster, complete with scratches, too many wacky accessories to count, and a deeper understanding of my music library that just can't stop - won't stop - growing. Thanks, 1G iPod.
WTF?! PSP Fanboy's 1000th Post!
It's been a long time since PSP Fanboy opened its doors and said "Hello World!" In fact, it's been one thousand posts since that time. Here are some of the more memorable moments in the past one thousand posts: Our first-ever user comment! Our first-ever Japanese sales report! (PSP's best-selling game was Brain Trainer Portable... original) The first time Samuel L. Jackson was pictured on the site The first time we used "WTF" in a title The first time we showed you people breaking their PSPs for fun The first time we had more than 30 comments (also: The first time we pitted the DS against the PSP, proving that flame bait = the mad traffic increase) The second time we announced the site going live (strange...) The first time prolific comment poster pixelator made a comment The first time new blogger Andrew Yoon wrote a story The first time new blogger Chris Powell wrote a story Hope you enjoyed our little retrospective look at the site. To bribe you to keep on coming back thank you for being such a loyal reader, we're giving away a free copy of the upcoming PSP game WTF. The game features tons of zany mini-games, and includes Game Sharing so you can play with your friends.To win your copy of WTF, think of a new meaning for the acronym. The PSP game stands for Work Time Fun. Try to think of a new, funny meaning for it (besides the obvious one).For example: Wax That Fanny, Women Touching Franks, Wank The Ferret, etc.Post a comment with your idea, and we'll choose one random person to get the game. The winner will receive their prize after 9/26/06. Contest ends on 9/12/06. Thanks, D3 Publisher!
HistoryHound - full text search of browser histories, NetNewsWire, more
HistoryHound is a handy search utility for anyone who does a lot of surfing and RSS reading between multiple apps. It offers a full text search of most of the major Mac OS X browsers including Mozilla's, OmniWeb and even Opera, as well as two of the more popular RSS readers: Pulp Fiction and NetNewsWire 2. It can be called with a keyboard shortcut, or a small search panel can be left to float above other windows, always waiting to do your bidding.How HistoryHound searches is customizable, as is how far back into the history it shines its spotlight. If you don't like bouncing between applications HistoryHound also includes its own WebKit-based browser for previewing any of your search results.This swiss army knife of a history utility has also recently been updated to a Universal Binary, along with a few other minor but useful feature tweaks. A fully-functioning 30 day demo is available, while a full license is $19.95.
Free Mac OS history PDF
Amit Singh (the same guy who hacked the 'book motion sensor), author of the newly released "Mac OS X Internals: A Systems Approach," has made an expanded version of first chapter of the epic 1700 page tome available online as a free PDF download. Entitled "A Technical History of Apple's Operating Systems," the piece covers the entire gamut of operating systems that Apple has ever shown the least bit of interest in since its birth 30 years ago. Weighing in at 140 pages and 3MB, the chapter delves pretty deeply into the technical aspects of Operating Systems, and might be a bit dense for some less tech savvy readers. I haven't yet read much more than the first few pages yet (other than skimming), but I can tell this will be an interesting and invaluable read that will give me a better grasp on OS X by showing me where it has been.Via MacUser
Developer to raze Bell Labs Holmdel facility, birthplace of the cellphone
It's not very often that we here at Engadget adopt an issue and stand behind it; one of the only notable examples includes the Broadcast Flag, which in 2004 -- very early on in its life -- we made our feelings pretty well known. But when one Joseph Ferrara emailed us to point out a New York Times story that slipped beneath just about everybody's radar, we knew we had to look further into the matter. After all, it shouldn't surprise you that we wouldn't take it lightly when someone threatens to raze the birthplace of the cellphone. The facility in question, one time Holmdel, New Jersey home to Bell Labs -- one of the most prolific technology innovators of the 20th century -- was owned by Lucent technologies until a recent round of asset liquidations. Barely 40 miles out of New York City, in its heydey the six-story, two million square foot campus employed over 5,600 people; it became home to the work of numerous Nobel laureates, and has long since been cemented in the annals of tech history as the birthplace to some of the most important and groundbreaking communications technologies ever conceived. And it'll soon be torn down. Designed and erected between 1957 and 1962 by the legendary Eero Saarinen, Holmdel is former home to Bell Labs' optical transmission, microwave, and wireless work, including the High-Speed Networks Research Department, High Speed Mobile Data Research Department, and Data Networking Systems Research Department. It was Holmdel's Wireless Research Laboratory, however, and the work Richard Frenkiel and Joel Engel that ranks among all Bell Labs' most notable contributions. In the early sixties Frenkeil and Engeld led a team of over 200 engineers to develop the first cellular wireless voice transmission technology, and eventually created AMPS (Advanced Mobile Phone System), the first and one of the most widely deployed cellphone technologies (still active even today in many parts of rural America). Holmdel is effectively the birthplace of global wireless movement, possibly the most crucial communications development of the 20th century, the internet notwithstanding. But there's more. Lots more.
Quiz: Do you know your Apple celebs?
Allright, TUAWers, it's your time to shine. You fancy yourself a Mac addict, eh? Then take our quiz. Many of the big players in the history of Apple can be recognized by their first names only. Below is a list of first names of people connected with Apple Computer that are quite well known, in order of difficulty (easiest at the top). Think you can recall the surname for each one? Leave your guess in the comments, and we'll post the answer tomorrow. Bonus points: What is each person's contribution/connection? Good luck!Hint: "Steve" and "Bill" are not "Jobs" and "Gates." That would be too easy. Steve Guy Gil Jonathan Al Ellen Jean-Louis Bill Jef Rupert, aka Robert Thanks for the idea, Ross!
Draenei Lore Update
There's a new post up by Chris Metzen that makes an attempt at explaining the interesting quandary of the new Draenei lore. It's a fairly long post, so I'll summarize... The change in the Eredar/Sargeras encounter was an accident, caused by not reviewing the older lore. Sometimes you need to be a bit flexible with the world's history in order to "broaden the scope and accessibility of your setting." They're going to run with the story as it currently is on the Burning Crusade site. They feel it's a stronger story and have already started to build around it. However, there's a lot more in the post and I highly suggest checking it out if you have the time.
